BeaverFalls

I wonder if this is coincidental to the registration rate formula this year.

In the spirit of making a knowledgeable consumer, this can all be summed up to Buyer Beware. No one can say a kid or a team should or shouldn’t compete at a certain level. Maybe for some reasons it’s the best fit for them. …but people also need to be realists and know what they’re getting into and know what they’re actually getting. If you’re going solely off MHR and National wins, that’s going to give you one answer. If you have a borderline AAA/AA kid that would benefit more from actually getting into a team and facing AAA competition than they would being a top 1-5 on a AA team, it’ll give you an another answer. There are some teams, organizations and parents who just want the ego stroke of saying your AAA. There are some that truly are national powerhouses. Then there are others that do develop kids but just aren’t national competitors. And yes there are some that are pure money grabs. Idk any organization well enough to pigeon-hole any of them. But I’m sure they all fit somewhere around that continuum. Unfortunately or fortunately the free market will dictate the number of teams. Personally I do think there are too many AAA teams, AA teams etc. I think there should be more in-house and cost effective programs and less travel and have travel reserved more for truly the top 50 percent of an areas players divided up from AAA to B because the output of time, money, and travel for travel hockey doesn’t give a reasonable return on investment. That being said, that will never happen. Just my two cents.

What you really need to do is find a guy who is a skills coach with no experience or background and has you jump over ADM mite dividers repeatedly.

18u also gets bleaker as more kids get jobs, dedicate to other sports, girlfriends, boyfriends, their own transportation etc.

The game has changed a ton to allow smaller players to stand a chance. Still have to keep your head up but it’s not like it used to and there have been some kids in the 90’s and early 00’s that couldn’t have been more than 5’5” that were in top 5 in scoring in their class.

This is very possible and may be a good thing. Idk enough about both organizations but I have to think there is way too much pandering to creating travel hockey for kids who should only be playing in-house (soak up that money so you can brag about your kids game 3 hours away even if it is B hockey).

Slightly OT but does anyone else think them having the term “Elite” in their name both irritates most as snobbish as well as panders to their clientele?

Hopefully this helps keep the lights on for a resource to the community.

I’m pretty much sick of everything and everyone if that makes you feel any better.

It looks to me this official knew exactly what to assess to realistically maximize the pain. That being said, as soon as a player opens Pandora’s box and puts it in the hands of the official to even put pen to paper - they’ve gone too far and are pretty much at their mercy.

Not exactly gooning it up as it’s been ascertained earlier, but not smart behavior.

I think if you do it like it’s monkey in the middle then yes. But there’s ways it can be done to an extent. I’m of the school of thought both organizations are at fault. Who thought it would even be a good idea to have this game with that much disparity? I can’t blame the players for playing the game. They’re looking to move on and move up too.

The firstest of world problems.

NCAA d3 lmao ok.

NCAA D3 or legit ACHA D1

I’m sure they’re all getting the recommended ammount of practice time per game too lol.

I’m one for making it at least until the age where teams can compete for Nationals and probably at the tier I and II levels only. How many TIII teams really are running part to full independent schedules?

USA hockey is nothing more than an insurance company that quasi props up a hockey program to create a self fulfilling cycle. It’s a business first.

That’s only the ones who have gotten caught. statistically speaking, more players of parents on this site will have played for a deviant during their hockey career than have not. It’s just the reality of the numbers. But it’s next to impossible to catch them all. In fact, the ones who do get caught and banned typically are inadvertent or the dumbest of the dumb. Morale crushing when you really think about it.

General location at least?

I’ve seen this. I’ve seen 3 players to a queen size bed and one $5 hot and ready per 4 players all first hand. If done right, it’s feasible. And hopefully they do it right. If not, it’s truly exhausting and demoralizing.

This is going to be a big increase in travel. Hopefully the program ensures the increased budget for appropriate travel, lodging and meals to help mitigate the fatigue that comes a long with these long road trips. Good luck to them in their move.

…and?

Idk if I agree with this. I’ve seen a ton more baseball players and football players go D1 NCAA straight out of high school than be able to name a single hockey player do it. It takes an inordinate amount of time and money to navigate to simply any level NCAA hockey over most other sports.